Retailer’s “Fat Girl Costumes” category causes huge backlash
Retail giant Walmart sparked huge controversy online yesterday with a VERY questionable category on their website's Halloween section.
The company was forced to apologise after advertising a range of "Fat Girl Costumes." Yes, really.
Shoppers took to social media to point out the massive faux-pas and at first received only generic apologies from the company:
@ItsWithaY Your comments and suggestions are important to us and help make Walmart even better. Thank you. -Nao
— Walmart (@Walmart) October 21, 2014
Later though, Walmart released a media statement to officially say sorry for the mix-up. "This never should have been on our site," said the company. "It is unacceptable, and we apologise. We are working to remove it as soon as possible and ensure this never happens again."
They also responded directly to angry customers on Twitter:
@heartagramed This never should have been on our site. It is unacceptable, and we apologize. -Kinga
— Walmart (@Walmart) October 27, 2014
It's thought the category name might have been a cruel joke by one of Walmart's web developers, as the costumes shown are very similar to those listed in the shop's "Women's Plus Size Adult" section.
Posted along the top of the section was a banner reading "Make it a monstrously big Halloween for less" which gave even further offence to some shoppers.
